The BJP karyakartas lost no time in poking fun at CCP Mayor Surendra Furtado in an attempt to place the blame at his doorstep. Perhaps egged on by a meme in which, last time round, Manohar Parrikar, the then defence minister was shown surveying a flooded Panaji allegedly in a submarine, pasted atop a flooded street of Panaji, they decided to give one back.
Roughly a year after Mayor Surendra Furtado splashed into the St Inez creek, that video has made a comeback. The same splash has been pasted upon a flooded street of the city.
And while we may all have a hearty laugh, the joke’s on the people of Panaji. While the politicians and their minions blame each other, the city goes from bad to worse. The less said about the new Dona Paula-Miramar road which has now become the latest street within the city limits to flood the better. It’s surely the most expensive road to flood.
Killing two birds with one stone?
It’s been a week in which there has been a lull in politicking. Blame it on the fact that many of the politicians are busy in their own huddles gearing up for the panchayat polls. While some have publicly declared their panels and others have secretly backed individual candidates, what cannot be missed is the lack of ‘fever’ associated with the local self governing bodies elections.
Perhaps the last minute delimitation in wards or the back and forth between the High Court, the Supreme Court and the State government has left the people wondering whether to come out and vote.
In the midst of all this, a battle is shaping up between Michael Lobo and his bête noire Joseph Sequeira as well as Agnelo Fernandes with two panels - Together for Calangute and Together for Candolim. Can the two time MLA from Calangute kill two birds with one stone? Or do Joseph and Agnelo have something up their sleeves?
Back to square one?
Vishwajit’s induction into the BJP took many by surprise. Not only did the BJP not need him given that their government was already formed, but the fact the junior Rane can be a potential embarrassment is not lost on the party.
Yet, as part of its Congress mukt Bharat campaign, the party is accepting anybody and everybody into the party, not just in the State but also at the national level.
But that’s no longer news. Rane got inducted and was even made a minister at the cost of several loyal soldiers of the party. Firmly in the driver’s seat, Rane has now gone about doing what he does best - What he calls resuscitating the Health Department.
As part of this package, Rane’s plan is to bring back screening of new born babies at the Goa Medical College and Hospital - a plan that is expensive with vague benefits.
The question that now remains is whether the BJP is going to eat it’s own legacy built over years of arguments against Rane in the legislative assembly.
How does the BJP know?
Not much is being spoken on the Panaji election front. With elections expected to be held around two months from now, one would expect that the tempo would have started to rise. One cannot blame the impending panchayat elections in this case, as Panaji is beyond these elections.
Independent observers on one hand continue to maintain that with Babush yet to make his move known, Parrikar could be preparing himself for an unopposed election where all the opponents have been settled.
In the melee the AAP insists that it will contest the elections because the Congress and the BJP are “husband and wife” and settle each other’s cases.
On the other hand, the BJP internally continues to insist that Babush will not only contest the elections but give a “fight” to the chief minister.
With Babush himself admitting that sometimes even he doesn’t know what he is going to do, we wonder how it is that the BJP of all parties is confident that Babush will contest?
